Where do you go for game news and reviews? - Page 3

Azselendor · #21 February 22nd, 2005, 03:33 PM

I've stopped going to game news sites for information about games. I've blown way too much money on games that got good reviews but really were all talk, no guts to trust them.

Sivran · #22 February 22nd, 2005, 07:43 PM

And rightly so, they probably got paid for givin those good reviews.

That said, *good* demos are my preferred way of finding out about a game, along with word of mouth. IE: Borrowing it from a friend, or playing it at a friend's house. I tend to buy games if I've *ahem* borrowed and liked them.

Instar · #23 February 24th, 2005, 11:37 PM

PC Gamer.
PC Gamer.

my subscription ran out

For XBox, I read XBN, I think. Its the one not in circulation now. Dunno.

gray · #24 April 4th, 2005, 11:15 AM

hi from austria,

as i work for independent online media i know the problem of biased reviews - sorry if my english is not the best, but i am native german speaker

we don't accept anything to make reviews better or as good as the publisher wants them. we even had phone calls of publishers wich were not satisfied with us because we rated their games not the way they wanted it and at this point it gets hard for me/us to really withstand this pressure because you also have to think about getting samples of the newest games to give your community the information it wants. but we can be proud to say we withstand any publisher's pressure and we have learned to live with it when we do not get any new samples from theese publishers. i think this independence is also because we do not earn any cash out of our work and we do not really plan to make lots of cash. we are satisfied with financing our server costs out of some banner clicks. nowadays every 2nd gamer's website with noticeable visits is owned by someone in the background. you dont really want to know in how much sites the "big players" are inwolved in some kind of way....

but back to the basic question: for news and reviews i visit rebell.at

Psitticine · #25 April 4th, 2005, 12:23 PM

I'm not sure it qualifies as unbiased, but I'll often check out metacritic to get an overview of what people are saying. Then I'll look at a sampling of the top, middle, and bottom reviews (usually just skimming/scanning) to get an idea of what issues are reoccuring problems to the reviewers and so forth. I don't feel that necessarily bypasses any biasing going on, but maybe it helps mitigate it a bit.

Most often, however, I just go by word-of-mouth. I know the tastes of my friends compared to mine, which makes it easier to know if what they are enjoying is really something I'll enjoy.

Once upon a time, I relied heavily on print reviews in magazines but the delays involved in that medium means they are relying more on previews than reviews these days, and that's not all that valuable to me. Things change too much from preview time to gold, IMO. I haven't read a print computer magazine since Dom III was getting reviewed and it was at least as long before that since I'd picked one up.

Oh, and if I'm thinking about picking up something that's been out for awhile, my first stop is never a review site but rather the game's forums, both the official ones and any fansite ones that are around. I find you can learn more about the actual play experience by browsing through the chatter than you can from just about anywhere else than talking about it directly with somebody who plays it.

Joe 98 · #26 April 4th, 2005, 08:22 PM

The only computer games I play are wargames.

They need to be reviewed by wargamers

The Wargamer and Armchair General websites are the only places I read reviews.

Phoenix-D · #27 April 4th, 2005, 08:42 PM

News? Various places, mostly game forums.

Reviews? I don't, gennerally. The game has a demo or the game doesn't get purchased. Reviews depend on finding a reviewer with similar tastes, which is rare..

Combat Wombat · #28 April 4th, 2005, 09:30 PM

PC Gamer and word of mouth

Annette · #29 April 5th, 2005, 01:06 AM

Quote:

gray said:
hi from austria,

as i work for independent online media i know the problem of biased reviews - sorry if my english is not the best, but i am native german speaker

we don't accept anything to make reviews better or as good as the publisher wants them. we even had phone calls of publishers wich were not satisfied with us because we rated their games not the way they wanted it and at this point it gets hard for me/us to really withstand this pressure because you also have to think about getting samples of the newest games to give your community the information it wants. but we can be proud to say we withstand any publisher's pressure and we have learned to live with it when we do not get any new samples from theese publishers. i think this independence is also because we do not earn any cash out of our work and we do not really plan to make lots of cash. we are satisfied with financing our server costs out of some banner clicks. nowadays every 2nd gamer's website with noticeable visits is owned by someone in the background. you dont really want to know in how much sites the "big players" are inwolved in some kind of way....

but back to the basic question: for news and reviews i visit rebell.at

Welcome, Gray. We are happy to see you here.

Leslie · #30 April 28th, 2005, 01:41 AM

Being more or less a hard core wargamer, I find I only want to visit Matrix Games, Wargamer, Warfare HQ and Battlefront (aside from recently deciding to put my face in around here).

After spending to much time posting to many posts on to many forums though, I have had to brutally limit myself.

I try to get my posting out of my system primarily at Warfare HQ. The rest I am trying to be just a reader.

I don't read "reviews" as much as I read gamer's opinions on forums.
Everyone's opinion is worth something.